Lebanese flatbread (Man’ooshe)

July 12, 2010  •  Category:

 


Even Lebanese hunks make man’ooshe!

No one will deny that the French without their baguette can no longer be considered French; such is the case for the Lebanese and theirman’ooshe.

Man’ooshe is a flatbread that is shaped like a round pizza and eaten for breakfast with various toppings; always freshly baked from a neighborhood oven; cost varies depending on the topping, but usually starts at 75 cents or so for a man’ooshe topped with zaatar (a thyme mixture) and olive oil.

If you eat your man’ooshe like most Lebanese folks on the go before heading for work, you can be guaranteed that you will not feel hungry for hours.

The most common toppings  are zaatar and olive oil, my favorite; cheeses (a variety); kishek (a bulgur and yogurt and tomato mixture);  all  these toppings are offered with fresh vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, purslane, arugula, sprinkled liberally on the man’ooshe which is then folded and presented encased in a piece of white paper.

The common belief is this: the pungency of the zaatar topping is neutralized by the fresh vegetables.

Here is my favorite man’ooshe version, tasted at Souk el-Tayeb, made with a whole-wheat dough, topped with zaatar and olive oil and wrapped around a salad of fresh purslane and tomatoes.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 batch of dough: clickhere for a recipe.
  • 1 batch of zaatar
  • olive oil
  • Salad: a bunch of purslane, chopped tomatoes, a bit of chopped onion, dressing made up of olive oil, a dash of sumac and bit of lemon juice, salt to taste.


Clickhere for a man’ooshe with kishek recipe (red pepper, walnuts, kishek, onion)

Comments

51 Comments  •  Comments Feed

  1. momgateway says:

    I’ve tried man’ooshe before and this is definitely looking so delicious!

  2. Sarah says:

    I need to cook gluten-free, do you think I could substitute a gluten-free pizza crust recipe? Or would that be the wrong consistency?

  3. T.W. Barritt says:

    I like a substantial breakfast!

  4. Lyndsey says:

    I’ve got to make this, or maybe I should have my husband make it. 😀 I have some zaatar already and I was planning on making some bread to use it on. Perfect! Thanks!

  5. elra says:

    Oh I love manoushi very much, I like to make it on a regular basis, and put just a simple topping, such as za’atar.

  6. El says:

    This looks like a great snack. I’ll definitely have to try it.

  7. Barbara says:

    Who says every country doesn’t have their own form of pizza? The French pile ham and cheese on their baguettes and that hunk in the photo is piling on a salad….much the better idea!

  8. Recipe for Delicious says:

    Looks delicious! So versatile!

  9. Sasa says:

    Ah, stuff on bread, everyone’s favourite – especially that stuff – za’atar! Yum. Are you still in Beirut then?

  10. Priya says:

    Droolworthy and gorgeous flatbread…makes me hungry..

  11. Rosa says:

    That is the kind of snack I crave all the time! Fantastic Middle eastern flatbreads/pizzas!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  12. Sarah says:

    Great photos! In the lower photograph it looks like she is making whole wheat man’oosh by the color of the dough. love the topping ideas.

  13. SYLVIA says:

    Natures perfect recipe, bites of heaven, and it’s making me drool, I vividly remember part of my youth living in Ashrafieh mixing the zaatar, and taking it to our neighborhood bakery, and forming them on the fresh dough, we absolutely loved it. Thank you Joumana for recapturing my youth, it is awesome.

  14. sweetlife says:

    oh what a cute post, I love this, I could see myself enjoying this for breakfast, lunch or dinner..yum

    sweetlife

  15. Amber @Almost Vegan says:

    This looks and sounds so good! I still need to buy or make some za’atar seasoning.

  16. Magdalena says:

    Great! I still wait for preparing Lebanon dinner for Polish my friends (most of them are on holiday now).
    Joumana – every nation has its own bread, and it is nice to read and to find out that you have your own in Lebanon, too. Baguette in France, Man’Ooshe in Lebanon and whole rye bread in Poland. Thanks for commenting my last post; us, who grew up in countries hit by the history, poor, destroyed, and not attractive for foreigners, will understand each other without saying too many words…on the other hand, for people, who grew up in a “normal” country, it is difficult to understand all those absurds..don’t you think so ?
    Best regards!

  17. Szalony Kucharz says:

    Beautiful flatbread. Just goes to show what universal thing bread is. Will definitely try to make man’ooshe at home, as I am bread-obsessed.

  18. Faith says:

    Oooh, another wonderful use for za’atar! With a side of yogurt this is the perfect light meal!

  19. tobias cooks! says:

    Looks like a ceremony to me. Delicious.

  20. Eve@CheapEthnicEatz says:

    I am feeling lazy, I will call for delivery. Does the Lebanese hunk do delivery in Canada?

  21. Sarah Galvin (All Our Fingers in the Pie) says:

    This looks so good I would have it any time of the day. I will have to also try this. So much food…so little time. I passed on your blog info to a Lebanese friend of mine who wants to learn more about cooking Lebanese food. I hope she checks in.

  22. Olive says:

    I have tried making several flatbreads..tortilla,naan, roti, pita …I am definitely trying your man’ooshe recipe,..thanks for sharing, and the zaatar too, hope I can find sumac here.

  23. Anh says:

    There’s a bakery in Melbourne. Australia that is famous for this bread! I LOVE it! Thanks for the recipe!

  24. Magic of Spice says:

    Love this, I usually like them with chopped garlic and basil with a bit of olive oil…These variations looks so good:)

  25. Zlamushka says:

    Hi there,

    Lovely post, enjoyed the pictures 🙂

  26. Chris says:

    I constantly want to eat my screen when I visit your site. 🙂

  27. Cherine says:

    This is the best breakfast!! I miss having a good man’oushe! Yalla 12 more days 🙂

  28. Lentil Breakdown says:

    Both man and man’ ooshe are making me drool. I’d like a hunk of both varieties, please.

  29. Sonia says:

    Love this post, like to know your local foods, this flatbread sound simple and good, for me, I would love to eat it with curry, must be very yummy.

  30. Joanne says:

    Why in all my carb-addicted life have I never had this before? Hmmm. That needs to be remedied. It looks delicious!

  31. Katerina says:

    This looks delicious. I wish I had a bite right now. I have just returned from work and I am starving.

  32. lisa says:

    I love Lebanese flatbread. I have not prepared it myself yet, however, I eat it a quite a bit — I have friends that own a beautiful little middle eastern cafe in the bay area and the food is always so perfect. I look forward to the bread and za’atar.

  33. joudie's mood food says:

    Joumana, i love love love manooshe. I have wanted a recipe for the bread for ages and this seems to be the perfect one. Are you still in Lebanon? I am still going around greece with rubbish internet connection but relaxing. Keep the lovely recipes coming!!!!

  34. Sridevi says:

    Thanks for sharing this famous bread. Man ‘ooshe looks like thin crust pizza and the topping’s were interesting.

  35. Chef E says:

    I love Za’atar when I discovered it! This dish looks delicious! You changed the website up a bit? Love it too…

  36. Susan says:

    The name even sounds manly 🙂 Another new wonderful food!

  37. Oui, Chef says:

    I am so excited that you have posted man’ooshe, as my wife and I have been trying for a while to find one that reminds her of the breads she ate when living in Lebanon. Yours looks fabulous….can’t wait to give it a try. – S

  38. Lea Ann says:

    Every country has their own version of what I call Pizza. Love it. Also love seeing that Diesel Jeans T-shirt. The best fitting pair of jeans that I’ve ever owned were Diesel brand. They’re hard to find in the states.

  39. peter says:

    It seems that in the old world, there are more savory options for breakfast. I’d certainly go for the cheese man’ooshe, with some purslane on top like in that photo.

  40. citronetvanille says:

    Oui en effet, je vois que les beaux libanais mettent la main à la pâte, un homme qui cuisine, je trouve ça épatant surtout que je n’en voit pas souvent. J’adore ces pains plats, genre galette, merci pour la recette, je vais m’y mettre un de ces jours!

  41. Bria @ WestofPersia says:

    What a good-looking man, I mean, man’ooshe! 😉

  42. Mimi says:

    This would be perfect for any meal.
    Mimi

  43. Mathai says:

    These are great with a side of fresh Labneh

  44. TastyTrix says:

    Oh my, what a dish! And the man’ooshe looks quite good as well! ; )

  45. Stephen says:

    Hi Joumana
    Love this blog but your links for the dough and a man’ooshe with kishek recipe do not work I love making different breads and would like to make some man’ooshe please could you sort the links.
    Many thanks
    Stephen

  46. Kristi Abuissa says:

    Hi Joumana, I second Stephen’s comments, I’ve been browsing the blog with admiration for some time. However, the link for the flatbread dough that should be here: https://www.tasteofbeirut.com/2009/09/manooshe-zaatar-on-the-saj-or-bbq-grill/ doesn’t work anymore.

  47. Kristi Abuissa says:

    I think I found the correct link for the dough, this looks like it: https://www.tasteofbeirut.com/manooshe-zaatar-on-the-saj-or-bbq-grill/

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